ILWS - Institute of Land, Water and Society
News and Achievements 2009
Researcher awarded an ARC Future Fellowship
ILWS researcher Associate Professor Gary Luck has been named an ARC Future Fellows by the Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr. A/Prof Gary Luck, is an ecologist basd at CSU at Albury-Wodonga and among 200 outstanding national and international mid-career researchers named in the first group of prestigious Future Fellows. He'll lead projects over five years worth $686,400.
Associate Professor Luck’s Fellowship will facilitate his work on Integrating the conservation and ecosystem-service value of Australia’s Catchments. He has an interest in a broad range of topics including developing conservation strategies for native fauna in agricultural landscapes, examining the role of vertebrates in providing ecosystem services and understanding the importance of changes in population diversity to service provision. He is also interested in biogeographic patterns in species assemblages and their relationships to human settlement patterns, and human impacts on biodiversity. He has studied or worked at five universities including a two–year postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in California.
ILWS members receive Vice-Chancellor Awards for Excellence
Congratulations to all who received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence including our two ILWS recipients, A/Prof Gary Luck from the School of Environmental Science who won the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence; and Dr Jennifer Sappey from the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies who won one of two Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
Gary was nominated by Prof Nick Klomp, the Dean of the Faculty of Science for his “outstanding contribution to the research profile of Charles Sturt University.” Gary, who joined CSU in 2003, is an ecologist with research interests in the conservation and management of endangered fauna in agricultural landscapes, the relationship between human demographics and biodiversity, and the role of species in providing ecosystem services. Within the research field of biodiversity conservation he has contributed to new knowledge on ecosystem services, and conservation near human settlements. Since 2006 Gary has secured external grant funding of over $1.1m (including three ARC grants). Seven of his top 10 publications are in journals with an ERA ranking of A* or A and he is a major contributor to international research collaborations including a European Union 6th
Framework Program project. He has supervised seven PhD students (two completed and five on-going) and makes significant effort to mentor early career researchers.
Jenny, a lecturer in sociology at Bathurst, is a member of the Institute’s Economic and Regional Development group. In 2007 to 2008 she was the team leader of an ERD project Mapping the Aged Care Industry and Ageing Issues in Central West NSW, as part of the Institute’s commitment to researching demographic change. Jenny teaches in the areas of spatial inequality and social identity which encompasses issues such as ageing, gender, ethnicity and differences in access to economic, social and environmental resources across regions and international. “There is a strong nexus between this teaching and our ILWS research with a common theme running throughout – the significance of consumption, difference and inequality on issues of long term economic, social and environmental sustainability,” says Jenny who was recognised for supporting the needs of her School, providing ongoing leadership to her colleagues, her commitment to education and her cutting edge approach to blended learning.
20 years of Rural Society
It's 20 years since Rural Society, the journal of research into rural and regional social issues, began life as the Rural Welfare Research Bulletin. Since 1989 the articles published in Rural Society have covered some enduring themes such as rural justice, multiculturalism, women in the workforce, gender equality, rural transport and access to services. Read more....
Director reappointed to RAMSAR panel
International recognition for his expertise in wetland management has led to the reappointment of Institute director Professor Max Finlayson to the Scientific and Technical Review Panel for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands from 2009 to 2012. Professor Finlayson will be specialising in the effects of climate change on wetlands and water, and the social and economic effects on people who rely on them.